The present invention relates to food browning compositions and a process for browning foods. The composition may be used to brown foods cooked either by microwave radiation or by conventional means.
When foods are prepared quickly, particularly in those cases wherein the food is either cooked by microwave radiation or warmed for a short period of time in a conventional oven or by other means, the surface of the food lacks the brown color and often the associated aroma produced by conventional cooking methods. The pale appearance of foods such as chicken, pork, beef and cakes is unappealing to consumers.
In the case of microwaved foods, browning has been achieved primarily by using packaging material containing metal susceptors for inducing local heating. These susceptors are in contact with the surface of the food and upon heating to a certain temperature, browning of the surface is accomplished. Such packaging is referred to in e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,833,007, 4,814,568, 4,626,641, 4,594,492, 4,590,349 and 4,555,605.
One approach to browning microwaved meat products such as poultry, beef, pork, fish and other foods has been to apply a brown-colored sauce or topping to the food before cooking or serving.
One such sauce is referred to in U.S. Pat. No. 4,252,832 to Moody. This is a thick syrup prepared by melting, caramelizing and foaming a granular disaccharide such as sucrose, maltose or lactose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,837 to Coleman et al. refers to a coating composition for imparting a crisp golden brown surface to microwaved foods. The coating comprises a toasted bread crumb/oil blend in amounts up to 66 percent by weight of the composition, maltodextrin, soy protein concentrate and pre-gelatinized starch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,518,618 to Hsia refers to a food coating composition comprising a combination of three salts, i.e. potassium acetate, potassium chloride and potassium bicarbonate or potassium acetate, potassium chloride and sodium bicarbonate.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,791 to Fulde refers to a reactive dough surface which undergoes chemical surface browning upon exposure to microwave radiation. The reactive composition contains as the essential active ingredient a reducing sugar such as dextrose and an amino acid source such as a yeast extract.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,812 to Bryson refers to a browning composition comprising collagen or gelatin hydrolyzed to its constituent amino acids plus one or more reducing sugars.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,184 to Buckholz refers to a microwave browning process comprising Maillard reaction precursors such as proline and rhamnose or ribose, and a solvent which is a mixture of glycerin and ethyl alcohol.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,904,490 to Buckholz refers to a microwave browning process comprising Maillard reaction precursors such as lysine and rhamnose or ribose, and a solvent which is a mixture of glycerin and ethyl alcohol.